Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi"

Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi" "Chinyankwazi Island"

Chinyankwazi Island — cheen-yahn-KWAH-zee EYE-land (approx.)

The fish

How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.

Read the full Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi" account →

Specific to Chinyankwazi Island

  • Collection locality & coordinates
  • Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
  • Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points

Care facts below are the species' — shared with Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in8.5 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth10–66 ft3–20 m
DietPicks loose diatoms, filamentous algae, and fine detritus from rock and sand using the genus's diagnostic unicuspid teeth, rather than scraping bound algal turf.
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodera few dozen eggs (genus-typical)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales show a gold-to-orange ("lion") base colour per the trade name, contrasting with the blue-based pattern of the nominal Chinyankwazi form; the female pattern is not documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chinyankwazi Island population

Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi" "Chinyankwazi Island" is the Chinyankwazi Island population of Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Chinyankwazi Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi" is an undescribed mbuna recorded from Chinyankwazi Island, one of two small protected islets in the southeastern arm of Lake Malawi. The same island is the type locality of a better documented, blue-and-black-barred population, Cynotilapia sp. "Chinyankwazi", whose coloration is close to that of Maylandia (formerly Pseudotropheus) zebra. "Lion" marks this as a separate, gold-to-orange colour form recorded from the same island rather than a simple locality variant of the blue form, following a colour-naming convention used for similarly toned forms in several other Malawi mbuna genera.

Full Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Cynotilapia sp. "Lion Chinyankwazi" "Chinyankwazi Island"
  2. malawi.si — Cynotilapia (Konings-based species database; Malawi genus overview)
  3. Konings, A. — Cichlids Yearbook, Volume 2 (Cichlid Press; Chinyankwazi/Chinyamwezi Cynotilapia populations and their protected-area status)
  4. Cichlid Room Companion — Cynotilapia (genus profile)